Free-to-Air Mobile TV FAQ

Q. What is free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV provides consumers with mobile access to the free, live programming that they already view and enjoy on their television sets at home. Free-to-air mobile TV leverages a mature broadcast ecosystem that includes global standards, spectrum that is already allocated, existing tower infrastructure, and familiar content. Free-to-air mobile TV is delivered via terrestrial broadcast signals such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM analog standards and regionally deployed digital standards such as DVB-T, T-DMB and ISDB-T.

Q. Why is free-to-air mobile TV important?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV accelerates consumer adoption of mobile television and is critical to its long-term success. Free-to-air mobile TV provides consumers with mobile access to live, familiar television content, an important first step in driving widespread consumer adoption of mobile television. Once consumers are accustomed to watching TV on their handsets, it is more likely that they will be receptive to paying for premium content.

Q. How big is the market for free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Forward Concepts estimates that analog mobile TV accounted for 52% of all broadcast mobile TV handset shipments in 2009,with analog and digital free-to-air mobile TV standards combined accounting for 85% of mobile TV handset shipments. In-Stat estimates that the installed base for analog free-to-air mobile TV will reach 314 million viewers by 2013. (Forward Concepts, In-Stat 2009)

Q. Why is free-to-air mobile TV growing faster than other mobile TV technologies?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV is experiencing rapid adoption because it delivers free and familiar content to the consumer. Telegent has established the market with multi-million chip shipment milestones and consumers viewing TV on Telegent-enabled handsets worldwide. Uptake of Telegent's solutions has been significantly faster than the industry is experiencing for subscription-based services providing made-for-mobile content.

Q. What is required to deliver free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Manufacturers can simply add a single chip to their handsets and other mobile products to let consumers access the existing free-to-air broadcast ecosystem. Operators do not need to invest the time, resources, and money required to build out a broadcast infrastructure based on new standards.

Q. What is the impact of some countries' proposed analog shutoffs?

A. Only 12% of the global population will be affected by analog shutoffs by the year 2012. At Telegent, we believe it is critical to support the global market with standards such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM while also delivering solutions for digital standards such as DVB-T. Telegent also provides hybrid chips capable of supporting both analog and digital standards to provide consumers with a transition path from analog to digital ecosystems.

Q. How does free-to-air mobile TV benefit operators?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV enables operators to differentiate their handset portfolios, attract subscribers, reduce customer churn and drive incremental revenue with zero investment required. Leading operators worldwide, including subsidiaries of América Movil and Telefönica throughout Latin America, are using free-to-air moble TV handsets to attract and retain subscribers and differentiate themselves in their market

Q. Why hasn't this been done before?

A. Telegent has achieved a technology breakthrough that allows it to deliver the picture quality, battery life, and high-speed mobility required to provide a high quality of experience to the consumer, all on a single chip, for both free-to-air and digital standards. Telegent's technology is now embedded in handset models sold worldwide, available throughout Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, Middle East and Africa, and is experiencing very rapid adoption.